Saturday, 30 June 2012

A woman S. Panchavarnam with grand children tells her story during an interview in Malaysia's northern Perak state. Photo courtesy: AFP

A woman S. Panchavarnam tells her story during an interview in Malaysia's northern Perak state. Photo courtesy: AFP

Bukit Merah, Malaysia, June 26, 2012 (AFP) - Thirty years have passed since Japan's Mitsubishi Chemicals opened a rare-earths refinery in the Malaysian village of Bukit Merah, but although the plant is gone, its toxic legacy persists.

The facility was embraced by authorities as an advanced foreign investment that would help create jobs in poor Perak state in the country's north.

But a rise in leukaemia and other health problems has left the site, now abandoned, as a silent warning to Malaysia as it touts a controversial new foreign rare-earths plant being built in the country's east by Australia's Lynas Corp.

"Look at my hands. The skin is peeling," said a 68-year-old local resident who gave only his surname, Ng.

"When I go to a local bar, the women just take off, afraid that if I touch them they will be infected," he said angrily of a mystery skin disorder he has endured for years.

Ng, who ran a hauling business, was awarded a contract to dispose of radioactive waste from the then-new facility in 1982. The plant's Japanese operators told him it could be used as fertiliser.

But the waste that he casually hauled away and disposed of in fields and rivers around Bukit Merah, home to 15,000 people, contained thorium, a carcinogenic radioactive chemical.

Lynas is putting the finishing touches on its $800 million rare-earths processing facility in Pahang state, a project billed by the government as an economic boost for the relatively undeveloped east coast.

Analysts say the plant, which will refine rare-earth ore brought from a Lynas mine in Australia, could help break China's stranglehold on the mineral elements, which are used in high-tech gadgets ranging from iPods to missiles.

China's control of about 95 percent of world supply has raised concerns.

But Lynas has been dogged by protests by environmentalists and residents who fear a repeat of Bukit Merah, and the anti-Lynas sentiment has galvanised a nascent "green" movement in Malaysia.

Lynas vows the facility will be safe, but opponents say the risks are clear at Bukit Merah, a once-idyllic farming community that today is marked by dilapidated brown wooden houses and a falling population.

Residents and activists say the village and surrounding areas have seen increased rates of leukaemia, birth defects, infant deaths, congenital diseases, miscarriages and lead poisoning in the years following the plant's opening.

"Mitsubishi's rare-earth refinery is Malaysia's worst industrial tragedy," said T. Jayabalan, a public health consultant who lived in Bukit Merah in the late 1980s, fighting for the plant's closure and documenting leukaemia cases.

Jayabalan said he had documented at least 11 deaths due to blood poisoning, brain tumours and leukaemia.

When the plant opened, villagers immediately complained of a stinging smoke and foul odour. Local ignorance meant that waste disposal was carried out with shocking recklessness.

"At one time, we dug a pit near a river in Bukit Merah and buried the waste," said Ng.

"Occasionally, lumps of wet thorium sludge would fall off the lorry and school children would walk pass it."

Mitsubishi Chemicals closed the plant in 1994 after a mounting public outcry, but the government has neither admitted nor denied radiation poisoning in the village.

The only payout by the company was a 500,000-ringgit ($158,000) lump sum to the local community to aid victims in 1994.

A tacit understanding was reached under which Mitsubishi Chemicals would shut the facility in exchange for a moratorium on lawsuits.

The plant has since been dismantled, cows grazing on grass where it once stood, surrounded by a crumbling concrete wall.

Radioactive waste that was previously kept in rusting metal drums has been removed and buried in an isolated limestone hills nearby. But environmentalists say the dump site remains a health threat.

Bukit Merah spotlights the conundrum surrounding rare-earths processing -- consumers clamour for the products that contain them but there are major concerns over the environmental impact of processing the minerals.

Opponents of the Lynas plant have seized upon such fears to challenge the new facility.

It was due to open late in 2011 but has been delayed in part by government hesitation in granting an operating licence to start production following protests by thousands.

A licence was awarded in February but the government froze that pending a review by a parliamentary panel.

The panel, dominated by Malaysia's ruling party, ruled on June 19 that the plant was safe. It was not immediately clear when the licence would be issued.

"We should not repeat the mistakes made at Bukit Merah. There is no such thing as a safe threshold for radiation which is cancer-causing," Jayabalan said.

S. Panchavarnam, 56, remembers vividly the pungent, choking smell she endured working at a timber mill adjacent to the plant in 1987. Pregnant at the time, she frequently fell ill.

"The Mitsubishi factory has caused a lot of pain. We are suffering in silence," she said.

Malaysia's frequent heavy rains caused carelessly dumped waste from the refinery to flow into the timber yard. She cleaned it up with no protective gear and soon suffered swelling in her legs and hands.

Panchavarnam said her daughter Kasturi, now 24, has been plagued by health problems since birth, dropping out of college at 19 as a result.

Kasturi was born with just one kidney, has short neck and a pair of low set eyes and continues to undergo treatment for persistent headaches.

Panchavarnam said Kasturi suffers from frequent dizzy and fainting spells.

"The rare earths factory has brought pain to our lives. When she comes home
from work, she will just sit in the corner of the room quietly," said
Panchavarnam.

An evironmental activist and chairman of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas, Tan Bun Teet, speaks at a gathereing against the controversial new foreign rare-earths plant being built in the country's east by Australia's Lynas Corp in Malaysia's northern Perak state. Photo courtesy: AFP

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

On June 24, thousands turned up for Occupy Gebeng protest at the entrance of Gebeng Industrial where Lynas is.

HIMPUNAN HIJAU PRESS RELEASE 26th June 2012

“The people will never retreat a single-step nor tolerate stagnancy. We will continue to push forward. Our second wave of people’s actions shall kick-off immediately!” said Wong Tack, chairperson of Himpunan Hijau.

The Himpunan Hijau steering committee has decided to kick start a Himpunan Hijau ‘BLOCKADE’ campaign straightaway. As we have promised, the people will not allow a single ounce of the Lynas’ ores to reach our shores.

“We’ll bring together tens of thousands of people from across the nation to send the shipment of Lynas’ toxic ores back to Australia,” said Wong Tack.

A special task force has been formed to drive the ‘BLOCKADE’ campaign. This special task force will ensure that the nation will be ready on the day the Lynas’ ores are approaching our shores. This campaign will choke the Kuantan Port and paralyse the entire operation of the port. It will definitely cause serious adverse economic repercussions to the entire East Coast region. It is a choice to face a temporary short term economic pain or permanently letting the future of this town being buried in the darkness of radioactive pollutions. It is now up to the authorities to decide.

“The next Himpunan Hijau will be called by Lynas,” exclaimed Wong.

At a meeting last night, the Himpunan Hijau steering committee has given the task to organize the ‘BLOCKADE’ campaign to a highly charged second echelon of young local leaders. Ten young men and women have courageously stepped forward to spearhead this campaign. More will join in later to form a well represented and powerful task force. Active work will start immediately to build a strong alliance of environmental comrades nationwide.

The Himpunan Hijau steering committee strongly believes that the future of this country belongs to youth. This is the time for them to step forward to uphold the right to protect their future.

Said Wong Tack, “For more than a year, responsible Malaysians have came forward, himpunan after himpunan, in the most peaceful manner to request the authorities to respect their rights and listen to their voices.

“But up until now, the only response from the authorities were gimmicks after gimmicks, one stupid and illogical statement after another. They continued to derail the issue, mislead, suppress, ignore and belittle the people’s intelligence.”

At this moment, the anger is boiling within the community.

“We, as the leaders of Himpunan Hijau have done our very best to contain the anger within the masses. We foresee that anger will be uncontrollable when the ores reach our shores,” concluded Wong Tack.

The authorities and Lynas should bear the whole responsibility on all eventualities due to their actions or inactions.

The green light given by the Parliament to issue Lynas with the temporary operating licence is the last straw on the camel’s back for SMSL in trying to engage constructively with the Government based on facts and science. This follows from the tabling of the findings by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Tuesday 19thJune.

SMSL through our legal team and independent experts have presented hard facts and the latest scientific and engineering information through the ministerial appeal process and has offered the PSC the same. We got no-where with the Government despite our efforts.

Mr Tan Bun Teet, the spokesperson for SMSL lamented“We had given the Government the benefits of the doubt hoping that the Government will act in the interest of the people. ”

“Our experts are some of the most outstanding and qualified professionals from the top universities in the United States of America, Unite Kingdom and Australia. They have volunteered their expert opinions purely from their professional ethics and their concern of the impact of the Lynas rare earth project.”

“We now know that this Government has yet again failed in its duty of care to protect citizens and the country from a mere foreign profit-seeking interest.”

With the Ministerial appeal and the PSC outcome known, SMSL have moved onto the next course of actions to stop the Lynas rare earth plant.

“We share the anguish, the worries and the anger of Kuantan residents over the Government’s decision for we are affected locals ourselves. The battle to Stop Lynas is far from over. The way is now clear for a different approach to stop this risky project.” Explained Mr Tan.

SMSL is currently preparing for a series of actions in respond to the Government’s poor decision on the Lynas rare earth refinery project:

The legal team is putting together a strong case for a judicial review through the court to appeal against theMinister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI)decision in the next week or so.

·The legal team is continuing to build a strong case of defence against Lynas’ defamation suit against SMSL for the 19thJuly hearing. This is an opportunity to highlight Lynas’ own weaknesses and limitation in handling the hazardous and complex rare earth refinery project to the world;

·A family Day on the 8thJuly to celebrate traditional seafood delicacies from the kampong at Teluk Cempedak to highlight what are at stake for our food culture and for the people in the kampong near the Lynas plant;

·A National Day of Actions to Stop Lynas is scheduled for 14thJuly

·A National Conference on Environmental Challenges for Malaysia is scheduled for November

·Lynas Annual General Meeting Action in Sydney in November.

Apart from local actions, SMSL has networked widely with civil society groups and Malaysian Diasporas in Australia, Europe and the USA to plan for other actions in their respective countries.

There will be legal actions in Western Australia and in Sydney in the near future.

Mr Tan said, “Our allies and supporters overseas are appalled by the latest news on the Lynas project in Malaysia. They are looking at means and ways to publicise the issue to Lynas’ customers and investors that Lynas has no social licence, and will never get one, to operate in Malaysia.”

“And of course, we will step up our voters awareness and education campaign in Malaysia to use the Lynas problem to explain to voters their power to change government to secure a cleaner and safer future for their family and for Malaysia.” Concluded Mr Tan

The
case has been postponed to 19th July. Lynas has submitted more
affidavits at the 11th hour and the judge was unable to reach a
decision on its inter-parte injunction against SMSL.

Buses
of protestors including individuals and NGOs supporters from Kuala Lumpur arrived
early this morning at the KL High Court to show their solidarity with SMSL. Upon hearing the postponement of the hearing,
the group later moved their peaceful protest to Parliament House to show their
strong opposition to the Lynas campaign while waiting for the tabling of the
Parliamentary Select Committee report on the Lynas rare earth plant.

Speaking (center) was executive director of Pusat Komas, Mr Tan JoHann on behalf of various NGOs in Malaysia.

Parliamentary
Select Committee Report

As
expected, the PSC has joined rank with the Atomic Energy Licensing Board and the
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to rubber stamp approval
for Lynas to perform a dangerous experiment on our shore, using citizens as
guinea pigs to enrich a foreign corporation and their shareholders, the
majority of whom are also foreigners who pay no tax in Malaysia.

Mr
Tan Bun Teet, a spokesperson for SMSL said “It is nothing more than hogwash by
the Barisan Government desperately trying to justify the controversial project
in a last ditch half-hearted effort to put on a show pretending to take on
board citizens’ concerns.”

What
is most intriguing about the PSC is the report started with pages of almost reasonable
discussions with 31 recommendations, many of which addressed concerns raised by
SMSL and our expert advisers.

However,
the recommendations, warm and fuzzy though they may be, would be rendered
useless and ineffective since the PSC in its summary on page 69 of the report concluded
that Lynas should be issued the temporary operating licence so that its ore
concentrate can be brought in for testing.

Citizens to
become guinea pigs of Lynas’ experiment

“This
is a dangerous and risky decision that will adversely affect the whole nation
and our near neighbours. I am very
worried for the kampong folks, the fishermen, the women especially those who
support their family selling keropok,ikan masin and other homemade
traditional seafood products. What will
happen to the children who live nearby?” Commented Haji Ismail Abu Bakar, a
Kuantan resident and a spokesperson for SMSL.

“They
are already facing the hazards from the Gebeng Industrial estate which have
never been investigated or studied. How much more pollution can they endured?”
Added Haji Ismail.

An
obvious issue completely missing from the PSC report is the sheer volumes of
waste in each waste stream – air, water and solid. Lynas will be discharging 90,000 cubic metre
of so-claimed treated waste gas; 500 to 700 tonnes of treated waste water -
with traces of radioactive substances, chemicals and heavy metals and close to
half a million tonnes of hazardous sludge made up of three different ‘solid’
waste one of which is radioactive.

A
study of the mangrove plants in the Balok River showed high intake of lead and
copper indicating that the river is already facing problems of heavy metal
contamination. With the Lynas waste
water discharge – no informed consumer will want to risk buying seafood obtained
nearby the world’s largest rare earth plant from the locals. Likewise, the
range of agriculture produce from the nearby area such as fruits and
vegetables, poultry, birdnest, coconut and palm oil will risk getting a bad
reputation for being contaminated with Lynas’ pollution. The Pahang beaches so famous and popular in
Malaysia will be tainted by the Lynas plant.

Lynas is a reputational risk for Malaysia

“Seriously,
who will want to holiday near the world’s largest rare earth refinery? Do we
really think Club Med will keep operating when Lynas starts its operations?” Asked
Mr Tan.

Lynas
has no experience in the processing of rare earth or in managing its complex
waste and pollution problems. There has
as yet no best practice model of rare earth refinery in the world to date. China has only beginning to clean up decades
of disastrous scale pollution from its rare earth industry. The Californian desert-based Mt Pass rare
earth miner Molycorp is still piloting its US$500 million retro fitted
zero-discharge processing plant. Yet in
Malaysia, a totally inexperience new player in the rare earth processing
industry dared to claim that its plant is safe, and in a peat mangrove swamp so
close to an important mangrove area and the South China Sea!

Mr
Tan remarked, “Each and every decision made by the Government or the Minister
justified only by bias science and spin will only add to the fear, anxiety and
anger of the community.”

Malaysia
will be tainted with a reputation for fast-tracking hazardous and risky project
at the expense of the environment, the population and even the local economy
that has sustained the livelihoods of hundreds and thousands of people for
decades.

The
PSC has actually consciously noted the eleven recommendations made by the IAEA
last June, the five conditions set by the AELB in its licensing approval back
in January and the two recently added conditions set by the MOSTI in its letter
to SMSL responding to the Ministerial Review.

The
PSC has rightly recommended these conditions and requirements to be met and yet
it has done nothing to advise the Government on the need to suspend the TOL in
order for some of the pre-conditions and recommendations to be met first. All
up, there are now 7 conditions and 42 recommendations made regarding the Lynas
project.

“Once
again, the Government has put the horse before the cart, giving the green light
to Lynas to operate when many of the pre-conditions and recommendations that
should have been fulfilled prior to its operations remained unmet. ” Commented
Haji Ismail.

He
also said, “If we allow Lynas to bring in the ore, we will have imported
radioactive materials into our country permanently. The horse will have already bolted!”

Mr
Tan concluded “The only course of action left to the community now is the court
action. SMSL have already started working
with expert witnesses and the legal team on this front. As soon as we have our cases together, we
will lodge it with the court. We have
planned for cases in Malaysia and in Australia.”

NGOs
in Australia are opposed to Australian rare earth miner, Lynas
Corporation, gagging free speech in Malaysia. Today, The Malaysian
High Court has scheduled to hear the injunction application filed by
Lynas against residents group Save
Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL).

Thousands
of Malaysians have come out in the past 15 months to protest against
its rare earth processing plant in Malaysia. Lynas wants to export
33,000 tonnes per annum of rare earth concentrates from its mine
through the port of Fremantle in Western Australia to the port of
Kuantan in Malaysia to its hazardous, energy intensive and highly
controversial processing plant, the Lynas
Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP).

Marcus
Atkinson, campaigner, Anti-Nuclear
Alliance of Western Australia said, “There is no way Lynas
would be able to gag organisations in Australia from exercising their
constitutional rights as citizens groups to highlight the risks and
hazards of a particular development.”

“Lynas
has been very aggressive in pushing ahead with its controversial
project against a growing tide of opposition. If the LAMP goes ahead
it will leave behind millions of tonnes of hazardous radioactive
waste in an area surrounded by peat mangrove swamp only 3.5 km from
the South China Sea, a major fishing and recreational hot spot. It is
totally un-Australian for Lynas to try to shut up Malaysian
communities who are concerned about inheriting a polluted and
radioactive future, losing their livelihood and clean living
environment along the way!”

Lynas
had earlier failed to seek an exparte court injunction to gag SMSL
and Malaysian NGOs. It is now trying again through an inter-parte
court injunction. Today, the court will decide on the injunction
sought by Lynas.

Lee
Tan, a Kuantan born Australian resident formerly the Asia-Pacific
Campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation said,"Lynas'
defamation suit against its critics in Malaysia goes to show the kind
of company it really is - to take advantage of the less stringent
environmental policy of Malaysia, to cash in on the overly generous
12-year tax holiday instead of paying taxes including the carbon tax
in Australia, to ignore community's opposition to its rare earth
plant and to push ahead with its plant despite not having a safe
permanent solution for its millions of tonnes of hazardous
radioactive waste"

Dr.
Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner, Friends
of the Earth Australia said, “Local communities have every
right to voice their concerns against any development that poses the
threats of radiation. Lynas should be adhering to Precautionary
Principle and Free Prior and Informed Consent. If these two
principles are not taken seriously then Lynas does not have the
social licence to operate in Malaysia.”

Whilst
Rare Earth’s are required for a variety of “green” technologies
including wind turbines and hybrid/electric cars both the extraction
and processing of rare earths has significant environmental
risks in its potential for the spread of radioactive material,
heavy metals and toxic chemicals, as well as the acidification of
watersheds.

Ms
Tan said, "Lynas has no idea that it needs a social licence to
operate. Its attempt to promote its products as green and sustainable
will never match ethical consumer demand for a sound life cycle
footprints for green products."

SMSL
and several bus-loads of supporters from different parts of Malaysia
will converge outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court by 9.30am today to
stage a peaceful action.

The Minister of Science,
Technology and Innovation (MOSTI)Datuk Maximus
Ongkili imposed two additional conditions on Lynas’ temporary operating licence
hoping that they will calm public’s opposition to the Lynas rare earth refinery
project. These conditions were added in
response to three Kuantan residents supported by SMSL who
appealed before him on April 17thto suspend the TOL approved by
the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) on January 30th this year.

Mr Tan Bun Teet, the
spokesperson for SMSL commented, “Of course, we are NOT convinced that the
addition of the two conditions will do much to safeguards our future. Didn’t the IAEA made eleven recommendations
for the AELB last year? Which of those recommendations has in practice been
followed through? Yet the AELB with the blessing of the MOSTI went ahead to
approve the TOL for Lynas.”

“The ministerial appeal is a
process we have had to follow because without it, the court will throw out our application
for a judicial review later.” Continued
Mr Tan

SMSL and concerned residents of
Kuantan will proceed to take on the government through the court as soon as the
Parliamentary Select Committee has revealed the finding of its inquiry. In May, SMSL walked out of the PSC hearing
because it could not provide the necessary guarantee that witnesses who
revealed problems with the LAMP would not face defamation suit by Lynas.

The affidavit submitted to the KL high court

SMSL Supporters to Protest
Against Lynas’ Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Malaysia

On another court matter, SMSL
and several bus-loads of supporters from different places will converge outside
the Kuala Lumpur High Court by 9.30am on Tuesday 19th June to stage
a peaceful action. They have responded
to Lynas’ defamation action to gag SMSL from exercising its constitutional
rights as a citizens group to highlight the risks and hazards of the Lynas
project.

Mr Tan remarked, “Not only has
Lynas been aggressive in pushing ahead its controversial project which risks polluting
our land, our river and our sea, it is also trying to shut us up!”

Lynas has earlier failed to
seek an exparte court injunction to gag SMSL and Malaysian NGOs. It is now trying
again through an inter-parte (where SMSL will have the opportunity to defend) court
injunction. Next Tuesday, the court will
decide on the injunction sought by Lynas.

Buses are
available to take concerned citizens to KL to show Lynas that we will not be
defeated. Seats are limited and going fast.
Please SMS your NAME
& IC# to 012-989 0687 to book a seat. The entourage will tour Putrajaya
following the court hearing.